How flight-to-quality continues to impact Singapore’s office market

SINGAPORE (Sept 5): Knight Frank Singapore says it sees the emergence of a two-tier office market in Singapore, given how the city state has seen a growing rental divergence between its top-grade and older office buildings as of late.

In Knight Frank’s 2Q17 Research Bulletin for the office sector, Calvin Yeo, executive director & head, office advisory, notes that Grade A+ office rents in the Raffles Place/Marina Bay precinct rose for the first time in nine quarters over 2Q by 0.2% q-o-q to an average of $9.34 psf pm, on the back of a sustained “flight-to-quality” movement.

Occupancy in these existing Grade A+ buildings rose by 0.3 percentage points from 97% in 1Q to represent the highest rate of occupancy growth registered in the last six quarters.

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